BIG FLARE: On Sunday, April 15th, at 1350 UT (9:50 am EDT) sunspot 9415 unleashed one of the most powerful explosions ever recorded in our solar system -- an X14-class solar flare. Active region 9415 is near the Sun's western limb, so the blast was directed mostly away from Earth. That's fortunate because today's flare was nearly as powerful as one in 1989 that triggered the collapse of a power grid in Canada -- no such calamities are expected this time!

Space Weather

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), April 16, 2001